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The game over screen for Donkey Kong Country 2 made me cry when it came out. Granted I was 5 years old, but the idea of those two lil' ape kids getting the serious crap kicked out of them, and then thrown into a cell for the rest of their lives--- made me absolutely bawl. Threw the game in the trash, but because it was a rental my dad made me get it out and return it to the store.

Megaman X: Maverick Hunter for the PSP. I've played through that thing probably 40 times--- it's just familiar, fun, and a good way to nod off. There's also endless variety in terms of how to play it; I've done Buster playthroughs, Ice Shotgun playthroughs, and plenty of other exceptionally weird ways to play the game just because it spices up the experience.

It's just one of those games. I was a lunatic for Megaman X back in the SNES days, but Maverick both revitalized and conquested that original love.

Second and third examples for me would be the original Donkey Kong Country on SNES, and Parasite Eve on PSX.

Final Fantasy 13, and the fact that it is a trilogy, is a huge reason why my interest in gaming seriously lagged. I think it's good that I lost the passion, as it's given me a greater interest and appreciation for other genres and series, but yes--- I absolutely wish FF13, and -2/3, were never made, and that Square had focused their efforts on a different, stronger entry for the FF series.
That one really bummed me out. I get that FF games have never been static; each one is wildly different from the last and all of that. But man--- it was just such an obscenely disappointing entry. The PSX and PS2 entries were absolutely great (FF12 is my favorite game of all time, undoubtedly); I just still cannot comprehend how they mucked it up so badly, in terms of both gameplay and story (it's FF; story matters here, IMO), and then went on to make a friggin' trilogy of this awful mess that 98% of it's day-1 purchasers immediately hated.

Absolutely hate FF13; it really laid a bad taste over RPG's as a whole for me.

Going with Jeremy's definition of "rushed home," the last one for me was Killer Is Dead. I'm in that odd camp of Suda51 whores, who kind of know that the games really aren't that great, and who definitely know they drop half in price a week after release, but who just don't care, and are super pumped to jump into that strange goodness of a Suda51 story, and the comfortable, but very stylish, gameplay by Grasshopper.

Nothing too remarkable about it, other than that I somehow dropped 40 hours of my life in 1 week with Killer Is Dead. I was pretty hooked with it, and before I knew it I'd done everything there was to do; I was top 10 in the Leaderboards for quite a while. But yeah; nothing too special about it. In the end I tried writing up my own interpretation of the story's symbols and meanings, focused mostly on explaining how KiD is a commentary on the East VS West gaming designs and disagreements, but in the end I was so burnt out after playing the game for fun that I had so much trouble going back to find information/examples for the blog I was writing. I was going to make it this big 5 part piece, but in the end I rushed out a single blog, hosted it for a week, and then deleted it in shame :P

But if we were to literally mean rush home to play a game, that would put me back probably to Sly Cooper 2, which is still my favorite platformer to this day. I was young then, still riding the school bus and wearing a backpack and all that, and what I remember is just slamming through 4-5 neighbor's backyard because that was my "shortcut" home, then howling howling howling for my dad to drive me over to the store. Costed every penny of my allowance, which I'd been saving for months, and it was absolutely worth it.

Balthier from FF12. For one, I'm a friggin' sky pirate (try and beat that job title). Two, my girlfriend has the body of a goddess, legs that could kick a hole through the moon, and fetish-based bunny ears. Plus she drives a hoverbike(!). Three, I have an outstanding accent that enlists me class whether I deserve it or not. Four, I'm strictly dashing.
And five, I'm just about the only guy in this world who knows how to handle a gun. If it were really me in the world then I assume there'd be some realism too, and so no matter how romantic these adventures of swords and magic and Hit Points are, a gun is a gun: I could just about take over the world on my own should I get the itch to do so.

So Balthier, 10/10, Balthier. And 11/10 just because of Fran regardless the other stuff.

Shame this happened, but this is absolutely NOT the first time this has happened. Several games on the Appstore have undergone this backwards treatment, and I'm pretty a SEGA title did this once also.
Still; these companies will always offer refunds when asked in these situations--- but it's all left to the consumer to know that they even can ask for the refund that's sleazy and unfortunate.
But oh well; I still haven't moved on from Groove Coaster anyway so this doesn't affect me :P

Oreshika was a big surprise for me; there were rumors, but this is one of those games I'd thought they'd pass on. Very happy that companies aren't afraid to just start with the sequel via localization (Conception 2, Akiba'Strip 2) rather than just not bring them over at all, so I'm happy.
Soul Sacrifice Delta I'm apathetic to; I just couldn't get into Soul Sacrifice. But Freedom Wars I'm f-ing PUMPED for! Love the art-direction, and the speedy gameplay is much more my thing for the genre (imo, God Eater > Monster Hunter).
Been a pretty solid year for Vita already; looking to keep up that way for the rest also!

@brionfoulke91
It's kind of silly to put a stamp on horror games a'la "PS2 was the golden era." Really, it's crazy to do that with any videogame genre whatsoever; while some years dip in quality, the next year is likely to bring about fantastic evolutions. Videogames are a medium still well within a 'childhood' of sorts; nothing is final nor absolute.
With horror, while I don't, personally, like the Dead Space series after the 1st one, I've seen tons of praise about how the "traditional" (approachable) TPS gameplay combined with scary, atmospheric, and moody presence really brought the horror genre into a much wider audience. Some argue the "authenticity" of DS2, but I see in that the same argument folks have towards neo-fantasy writers that avoid Tolkein-tropes; it's just very one-sided, determined, and, ultimately, narrow-minded.

Not an insult--- but I think it's pretty crazy to not have enjoyed Alan Wake. The game was f-ing amazing!Edited April 2014 by Unknown

Fun article; nice to read about some of the context that goes on with these conventions.
For me though, no matter the bad press this is one of those games I really can't get negative about. Everyone went ballistic critical with Killer Is Dead (and pretty much every Grasshopper title), but I still enjoyed it immensely and am glad I didn't go to press.
Just some companies, I guess. Platinum and Grasshopper, and I guess that makes it clear why I'm more than ready to sink-or-swim with Mikami's new direction.